February 14, 2023Comments are off for this post.

Building Bombilla® Podcast: How to Build a Creative Agency for Social Change

This podcast project is dedicated to folks who are #litonpurpose and taking bold audacious steps to start their own businesses for social change. Tune in to hear from other entrepreneurs and nonprofit leaders committed to using business to create a more just, sustainable world. Host Ivellisse Morales is committed to a values-driven life, and her creative design agency, bombilla®, is on a mission to make the world a more just, equitable place through the power of design.

Episode 1: #LitOnPurpose with Lauren Rascoe of Lauren Rascoe Creative

Taking the leap to live the dream. bombilla® founder, Ivellisse Morales and Lauren Rascoe of Lauren Rascoe Creative started their own businesses to create the purpose-driven careers they always wanted. In this episode, they compare notes on their experiences as creative entrepreneurs, their feelings about the title CEO, and the realities of building a business that’s #litonpurpose. Lauren is also the podcast producer for Building Bombilla®. Thank you, Lauren!

Resource Links:

Episode 2: Lift As We Climb with Maureen Miller of Black to Yoga

In this episode, bombilla® founder, Ivellisse Morales and Certified Public Accountant and Black to Yoga co-founder Maureen Miller share how they’ve both lifted each other up while climbing as entrepreneurs of color in the Bay Area. And as bombilla's trusted CPA accountant, Maureen offers wisdom about embracing the value of your work and why it’s important to stay on top of your numbers, and bring on an accountant, from the very beginning of your business journey.

Resource Links:

Episode 3: In Equity We Trust with Ellie Tumbuan of The Justice Collective

Ellie Tumbuan is co-founder, co-owner, and Head of Strategy and Culture at The Justice Collective, a 100% women of color founded, owned, managed and led full-service consulting firm based in Oakland, CA. In her conversation with bombilla® founder, Ivellisse Morales, Ellie talks about making business choices that serve the greatest good rather than the greatest profit, and how the strength and wisdom of her ancestors gets her through the difficulties of building a business rooted in social change.

Links:

Episode 4: Our Collective Genius with Team Bombilla®

In this lively group discussion, Kimberly Cho, Lillian Kim, Samantha Vaughan, and Tiffany Threets, aka Team Bombilla®, share the different paths that brought them to this non-traditional creative agency, the ups and downs of working at a start-up for social change, and how each one of them has grown at bombilla by stretching themselves and developing new skills. We discuss business innovation, being resourceful, one year as employed team, building systems, processes, and innovating as a 100% woman-of-color-led team.

Resource Links:

Episode 5: Radical Optimism with Naima McQueen of The Alliance for Community Development

Naima McQueen is a business and racial equity consultant and the Executive Director of the Alliance for Community Development in Oakland, CA. Alliance is dedicated to increasing access to capital for underrepresented entrepreneurs. In this episode, we explore how we intentionally create internal cultures of sustainability and respect, the importance of investing in your own business, and the big difference a little capital can make for a business owner committed to social change. 

Resource Links:

January 12, 2023Comments are off for this post.

RFQ: Communications Strategist & Project Manager (1099 Contract)

Summary

  • Proposal Due Date: January 20, 2023 by 5pm PST
  • Title: Communications Strategist & Project Manager (1099 Contract)
  • Location: Remote with team members in Oakland, CA / Boston, MA / New Haven, CT for coworking
  • Start Date: Early February 2023
  • Hours: min. 10 hours a week with a max. 20 hours per week (contingent on individual project needs and phases).
    • This translates to a minimum of 40 hours and a maximum of 160 hours per month.
    • We are online Monday - Thursday 9:00am-5:00pm PST. We collaborate across time zones with clients and team members.
  • Retainer Budget: $3,500 retainer per month paid 1x a month on the 20th
  • Duration: 3 - 6+ months to start to support immediate projects with opportunity for longer engagement
  • Point of Contact for Questions: hello@bombilla.co

Purpose and Background

bombilla®, a growing AfroLatina-owned creative agency for social change, is in immediate need of an organized, energetic and experienced Communications Strategist & Project Manager (Contractor) to support our retainer portfolio of social justice-driven clients.

This role is critical in the high-quality, successful delivery of client services and creative production. You will manage projects and retainers, coordinating and communicating between client partners and the creative project team while providing counsel and thought partnership using your strategic communications experience and expertise.

We’re a close-knit, values-driven team of strategists and designers who infuse fun and joy in our everyday work while fighting the biggest challenges of our time. Our client partners  work in racial and economic justice, policy & advocacy, climate justice, and more--all issue areas that seek to create a more just and equitable world for all.  Read more about us on our website.

Your role is to lead the way for branding & design projects to be gracefully completed on budget, on time and with excellence. Your responsibility is to oversee project(s) tasks, budgets, timelines and team members and for supporting communications-related projects (messaging, content) and typical collaboration challenges.

Other Expectations:

  • We meet Tuesday - Thursday at 10am PST for a 15-min huddle to review progress, blockers and barriers.
  • We’re online from 10am-1pm PST for team and client meetings.

Statement of Work

  • Serve as advisor and counsel to 3-5 clients and creative team (1-3 designers, depending on project)
  • Work with the creative team to stay on budget, meet client expectations, and uphold work quality;
  • Act as key holder of client and project goals and timelines;
  • Provide clients with ongoing updates progress and facilitate meetings;
  • Anticipate and mitigate client bandwidth issues by offering creative solutions;
  • Escalate and flag appropriate project updates to the CEO;
  • Adjust workback plans and track associated changes in deliverables and timelines;
  • Provide ongoing internal progress updates to keep teams on track;
  • Support communications projects, ranging from customer research, key messaging development and naming projects (varies by client/project);
  • Report progress and anticipated work in internal daily huddle meetings at 10:00am PT Monday-Thursday

Qualifications

Specific to this role:

  • Experienced strategist and communicator with proven track record in strategic marketing, public relations, branding and/or marketing communications consulting
  • At least 10+ years of experience working in consulting, creative agencies or professional services
  • Graceful, assertive and comfortable managing client relationships, projects and teams and all of the pivots that come with the creative process
  • At least 5+ years experience working with nonprofit, public and/or mission/justice-driven organizations
  • Naturally curious and able to effectively communicate in different ways with different stakeholders
  • Proven success completing projects from concept to production and managing contractor and/or vendor relationships
  • Basic knowledge of graphic design and/or creative campaign production
  • Proficiency with the systems we use: Asana, Slack, Google for Business, Dropbox, Adobe Creative Cloud

Overall:

  • Motivated to disrupt the status quo and to decolonize design and business;
  • #litonpurpose and inspired to make positive change in this world;
  • Eager to lead and do business in a human-centered way;

RFP Requirements, Deadline & Projected Timeline

To submit a proposal, please include the subject line “Proposal for Comms Strategist” and the following attachments/links in an email to hello@bombilla.co :

  • A recent resume (or an updated LinkedIn profile link)
  • A video or written statement that describes your philosophy/ethos/leadership approach to team management and client management in a creative agency setting
    • Video no more than 2 minutes; written statement no more than 600 words
  • A link to your portfolio or 2-3 examples of past client work relevant to this role
  • Two professional references (including phone and email) from former employer, former client or former team member

Proposal Due Date: January 20, 2023 by 5pm PST

Projected timeline*

  • Thursday, January 26, 2023 by 5pm PST: All applicants will be notified if they are moving forward in the process or not.
  • Between January 27-February 3, 2023: Team Interview with Finalists
  • By February 8, 2023: Applicant Selected & Notified
  • By February 13, 2023: Contract Start Date

*This is estimated, not exact; it is provided for transparency. Please note we are a small and nimble team and may need to adjust the projected timeline.

We are an AfroLatina-owned company with an all-Women of Color staff. At bombilla creative, inc., we are proud to be an Equal Opportunity Employer. We wouldn't be who we are without the rich diversity of our team. We strongly encourage people of color, women, non-binary, Black, Indigenous, LGBTQ+ individuals, people with disabilities, people from low-income backgrounds, veterans and people from the Global Majority to apply. 

Applicants will not be discriminated against because of race, color, creed, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression, age, religion, national origin, citizenship status, disability, ancestry, marital status, veteran status, medical condition or any protected category prohibited by local, state or federal laws.

May 11, 2022Comments are off for this post.

Introducing bombilla’s™ Little Bright Branding Book

bombilla's™ little bright branding book is a playful poetry book for small businesses who care about heart-centered branding. The book launched in February 2022, in celebration of bombilla's 4th birthday.

You can get a copy of bombilla's™ little bright branding book here!

About the Book

  • Gorgeous matte hardcover, full-color book at 6×9 inches and 36 pages. Born December 29, 2021. 
  • Poems are personally written by me (Ivellisse!), designed by Kimberly Cho, edited by Jesi Hanley Vega. Includes poems like The Branding ABC’s, Chief Everything Officer and Stories: as well as exercise pages for you to reflect and play.
  • 5% of net sales will be earmarked for bombilla’s small business fund, a scholarship for Black, Brown & Queer emerging entrepreneurs (>2 years old) who seek our branding & design services.

My hope is that you'll walk away feeling #litonpurpose. And that you feel inspired and empowered to build your own heart-centered brand.

Ivellisse Morales

Get your own copy of bombilla's™ little bright branding book here!

January 26, 2022Comments are off for this post.

bombilla’s Land Acknowledgement & Indigenous Solidarity

Source: Sogorea Te' Land Trust

bombilla is based in xučyun (Huchiun), in unceded territory of the Chochenyo-speaking Lisjan Ohlone peoples, now also known as Oakland.

As a collective, we want to honor the history, culture, language, knowledge, and stewardship of the Ohlone peoples, and acknowledge and repair the violence inflicted upon the land and its peoples who have belonged in sacred relationship to this land for time immemorial.

We stand with the Ohlone people who continue to live and thrive here today, and respect their Indigenous sovereignty in this beloved, ancient place.

Reparations in Action

Starting in 2022, we will contribute to the Shuumi Land Tax which directly supports Sogorea Te’ Land Trust's work of "rematriation, returning Indigenous land to Indigenous people, establishing a cemetery to reinter stolen Ohlone ancestral remains and building urban gardens, community centers, and ceremonial spaces so current and future generations of Indigenous people can thrive in the Bay Area."

We encourage other non-Indigenous residents of the Bay Area to contribute to Sogorea Te's critical work through the Shuumi Land Tax and other contributions.

In 2021, we have donated $1,000+ to organizations committed to equity, including: Liberated Capital, Black Joy Parade and The Alliance for Community Development. Please visit their websites to see how you can support their crucial work!

Resources for Our Community

There are many ways to repair your relationship with the land and its Native peoples, and we encourage you to explore ways to do so that have a direct impact in the local communities you call home. Below are a few resources and organizations we follow and would love to share with you. If you have any organizations, resources, learnings, or solidarity campaigns that you would like to share with us or our community, we would love to hear them!

To start, find out what Native land you’re on here: native-land.ca.

For those living on Ohlone land:

More Resources:

What We’re Reading:

  • Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge, and the Teachings of Plants by Robin Wall Kimmerer

December 18, 2020Comments are off for this post.

Scaling Soulfully Together in 2020

Scaling Soulfully Together in 2020

Dear Community,

Every day, I wake up blessed to be building the business of my dreams. Thank you for helping me make this all a reality. We're doing it through creativity, community and collaboration. It's amazing what unfolds when one steps into their purpose. 

One too many burnouts forced me to re-evaluate my creative career in corporate social responsibility. Like a flip of a light switch, I knew it was time for me to build my own purpose-driven agency. I left the corporate world in February 2018 - I needed to be the change I wanted to see. It’s been history ever since! To date, we have built a brilliant core team, a talented national collective and a bright constellation of world-changing clients.

Our goal in 2021 is to deepen our financial resilience and to keep shining bright. You can play a role in our story by: hiring us and referring us for mission-driven brand strategy, visual identity and graphic design. Think of us as the go-to creative agency for small teams inside organizations with big dreams. Check out examples of our kick-ass work on our website.

Thanks to your projects, connections and support, here are some major milestones we made possible this year. Join us in the celebration:

With your help, connections, and creativity, here are several major milestones you made possible this year:

September 28, 2020Comments are off for this post.

Reimagining the Radically Inclusive Future of Work at The 3 Percent Conference

Ivellisse Morales, CEO of bombilla, speaks at The 3% Conference.

This summer our Founder & CEO, Ivellisse Morales had the honor of speaking in front of thousands at The 3 Percent Conference hosted by The 3 Percent Movement. Since its inception, The 3 Percent Movement has helped raise the percent of female Creative Directors from 3% to 29%, while giving agencies a clear road map of ways to champion female creative talent and leadership.

The theme for this year's 3% Conference is "The Radically Inclusive Future of Work".

Themed "The Radically Inclusive Future of Work," this year’s conference aimed to address four key pillars about the future of work: agile work environments, wellness, conscious leadership, and multigenerational workforces.

Lit on purpose hashtag by bombilla

In her talk, "Three Keys to Be #LitOnPurpose: How to Be Creative for a Change," Ivellisse shares her secret to carving out a creative career in social impact, bringing in influences from literature, music, art and her entrepreneurial passion projects that helped folks in her family and community.

Missed the talk? Check out Ivellisse's interview with The 3 Percent Movement (originally published here):

What’s happening right now?

“alarm’s been ringing
it’s not too late
to wake ourselves up
from this senseless state
start asking questions
ask yourself why
use your own senses
and sniff out the lies”

^ a short poem I wrote one day when I felt deeply disappointed, depressed and yet radically optimistic about the state of humanity and the planet

What might happen next?

What a time to be alive! We are at an existential crossroads as human beings. We’re globally grappling with the raw realities of white supremacy, patriarchy and global capitalism. “What might happen next?” is a question I ask myself every day. Peering through the fog of fear, there’s one thing I do see with certainty. We’re living ancestors writing history. It’s time to reflect, reimagine, redesign -- collectively, without permission, and with urgency. Let’s lean into the transformation that we desperately need.

What exciting creative opportunities does this open up?

What would it look like if all humans were #litonpurpose? If we all harnessed our creative gifts and angled them towards social, economic, political and environmental justice to accelerate change? How might we reimagine and rebuild our world so we can all thrive? We’ll only get there collectively, and it starts with individual action.

To be #litonpurpose is to embody the change the world needs. Change starts with you (us). And we have powerful renewable resources in our hands: creativity, collaboration and community. In the words of Howard Thurman, “Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive, and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”

I believe we all should be employed to solve the great social, political and environmental crises of our time. We’re the creative directors of our shared future on this beautiful blue planet we call home.

The future of our planet is sustainable. The future of business is responsible. The future of work is equitable. The future of humans is #litonpurpose.

We got this.

September 24, 2020Comments are off for this post.

Bombilla CEO Named ADCOLOR 2020 Honoree

The One Club ADCOLOR Creative Award Honoree, Ivellisse Morales

Congrats to our Founder & CEO, Ivellisse Morales on receiving The One Club | ADCOLOR Creative Award during this year's 14th Annual ADCOLOR Awards!

The theme for this year’s conference, “Here For It”, is about showing up, being present, continuing the fight and striving for progress.

About the Award

The One Club | ADCOLOR Creative Award recipients are creative professionals of multicultural background who have demonstrated noteworthy talent and achievement within the media, creative, digital and traditional advertising disciplines. It’s sponsored by The One Club for Creativity, an international nonprofit organization seeking to inspire, encourage, and develop creative excellence in advertising and design.

Bombilla CEO Ivellisse Morales featured in Adweek with fellow honoree Soham Chatterjee
Bombilla CEO, Ivellisse Morales, featured in Adweek with fellow honoree Soham Chatterjee.

Ivellisse shares this honor with Soham Chatterjee, Global Associate Creative Director / Writer for WhatsApp and Creative X at Facebook. Other notable award winners this year include Alicia Garza, Opal Tometi and Patrisse Cullors, Founders of Black Lives Matter, Don Lemon of CNN and Valeisha Butterfield Jones of The Recording Academy.

Rising Up and Reaching Back

Since 2007, ADCOLOR has honored individuals and companies that go above and beyond to make a difference in the creative and tech industries. As an entrepreneur and a creative, Ivellisse has embodied ADCOLOR’s values of "Rising Up and Reaching Back" all her life and especially now through the cultivation of bombilla and its ecosystem of diverse creatives, vendors & suppliers and systems-changing clients.

I’m rising up because people are lifting me up, and I’m reaching back because there’s an abundance of opportunities to share. Thanks to my community I’m #HereForIt.

IVELLISSE MORALES, CEO OF BOMBILLA

In the News:

2020 ADCOLOR Awards: Celebrating the DEI Difference-Makers
ADCOLOR Announces 2020 Nominees, Honorees and FUTURES

We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people. 

We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people. 

We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people.

We are a proudly AfroBoricua-led small business, shining bright from sunny Oakland, CA. We are based in xučyun (Huchiun), on unceded territory of the Lisjan Ohlone people. 

JOIN THE BOMBILLA NEWSLETTER

© bombilla creative, inc. 2022   |   Privacy Policy   |   Branding & Web Design by Donaji Mejia